SpaceX Iridium-5 Launch Planned for March 30

SpaceX’s next launch, the latest in a series of missions to deploy satellites of the Iridium Next mobile communications fleet, will liftoff on Friday, March 30 from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Iridium-5 mission patch (courtesy nasaspaceflight.com)

A Falcon 9 rocket that was previously launched, recovered and then re-flown during the Iridium-3 mission will carry 10 satellites into the black and deploy them into Polar Low Earth Orbit. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:13am EDT (14:13 UTC).

This mission was to have launched on Thursday, March 29, but Iridium reported an issue with one of the ten satellites during preparation for the mission, which necessitated a postponement until Friday.

It is still unknown whether SpaceX will attempt to land and recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 for this mission. At this point it looks unlikely, but if there’s one thing we’ve come to expect from SpaceX, it’s a willingness to defy expectations.